Norman John Ganslen

Norman was born in Newark, New Jersey on November 8, 1918, to Charles Ganslen and Bertha Baum Ganslen. He grew up on the family poultry farm in New Jersey and also lived in New York, Illinois, and Connecticut before settling in Houston, Texas in 1971.

Norman began his education in a one room schoolhouse that included grades 1-6. He attended 7th and 8th grade in the local Grange Hall and graduated from Freehold High School. Norman turned down a full scholarship to Columbia University to work his way through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To pay for school, he ran two miles in the early morning and in between classes to stoke furnaces across campus and tutored school athletes in math. He also leveraged his running experience on the UNC track team, specializing in cross country and hop, skip and jump. Norman graduated in 1940 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation’s oldest academic honor society, due to his outstanding academic achievements. He later went on to earn a Masters of Business Administration from New York University in 1949.

Immediately out of college, Norman worked at the Horace Mann School for Boys, where he was a popular math teacher. He then worked at a bank in New York City.

In October of 1941, he began his corporate career with Shell Oil Company at their Headquarters in Rockefeller Center, where years later he was fortunate to meet his wife, Doris Fitzgerald, while standing in an elevator bank. He “climbed the corporate ladder” over the years holding positions in many fields before finding his niche in real estate where he developed countless locations for Shell facilities. Norman took early retirement from Shell in 1978 after 37 years of dedicated service.

Immediately after his retirement, Norman founded his own company, N.J. Ganslen and Associates, Inc., Land Investments and Property Management. The commercial real estate company procured and developed large tracts of land for residential, retail, and corporate use. Key projects included brokering the land for West Oaks Mall and the Arco facility in the Energy Corridor and developing Barkers Landing in West Houston.

In the early 1980’s, Norman ventured into the home construction business forming Solaris Development Company. The company built homes under the Preston Point, Sunstar and Lochmere brands in the Cary, North Carolina vicinity. He also developed property in Tiki Island and the Jamaica Beach area of Galveston.

Norman liked to invest in interesting people, projects and companies. He even went to Russia to explore a promising laser surgical device.

Norman made some time for volunteer work, acting as a Scout Leader for his son, Greg, and as a senior mentor for budding entrepreneurs with SCORE, an arm of the Small Business Administration.

On a personal level, Norman liked to read, play golf, travel, garden, and spend time with his family. As a younger man, he golfed in the low 80’s in spite of a childhood injury that hindered the use of his left arm. Travel adventures took him to Guatemala, Bermuda, Europe, multiple National Parks, and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He was happiest at home and in his garden which gave him peace and comfort in his later days.

Norman is survived by his beloved wife of 65 years, Doris Fitzgerald Ganslen, his son, Gregory and wife Sharon, daughters Nora Jean Ganslen and Beth Ellen Ganslen; grandchildren, John Ganslen and Maureen “Meg” Brockway and husband John; great grandchildren, Ashley and Alyssia Taylor; brother, Raymond and wife Eleanor, sister-in-law, Madelyn and brother-in-law and friend, William Fitzgerald. He is also survived by four generations of nieces and nephews.

Norman was preceded in death by his brother Richard and wife Helen; brother, William; brother-in-law, Joseph Fitzgerald and wife Teloir and sister-in-law, Rita Hollands and husband George.

Norman lived a long, happy and successful life and will be lovingly missed.

The family will receive friends 30 minutes prior to the service. A service to celebrate his life will be held at 12:30 P.M. on Saturday May 5, 2012 in the Memorial Oaks Funeral Home Chapel 13001 Katy freeway houston, Texas 77079. A reception will follow the service.

Flowers or donations to the charity of your choice in memory of Norman J. Ganslen are welcome.